BANANA FISH

BANANA FISH was serialized in Bessatsu Shoujo Comic from
1985 May issue to 1994 April
issue. It has 19 vols of comics edition and 11 vols of bunko edition, both of which
are still in print.

This story starts in South Vietnam, 1973. Griffin suddenly begins firing at his fellow GIs. Max Lobo shoots him to stop him from firing. Griffin is out of his mind and can only say "Banana Fish".
The story jumps to New York, in 1985. Ash Lynx, a street kids leader, comes across a man who is shot and dying. The man hands Ash a locket and says "Los Angeles Westwood 42....... See Banana Fish". Ash goes home and asks his elder brother Griffin, who has become a human vegetable, what Banana Fish is.
Dino Gorzine, who is a homosexual Corsican Mafia boss and loves Ash, is also interested in Banana Fish.
Eiji Okumura comes from Japan with Shun-ichi Ibe, a photographer. They meet Ash to take street kids' photos.
Dino frames Ash and he is sent to a prison. Ash meets Max Lobo there. While Ash is in prison, Griffin is killed by Dino's henchmen.
Later, Ash is released from prison and attempts to kill Dino with the help of his friend Shorter, but they fail and escape.

BANANA FISH has spin-offs. Eiji and Ibe first appeared in "Fly boy, in the sky"
in Bessatsu LaLa winter issue in 1984.
"Private Opinion" is a story about young Ash and Blanka. "Angel Eyes" is set in
a reformatory, where Ash met Shorter for the first time at the age of 13. "Hikari
no Niwa" is a story about Eiji and Shin eight years after BANANA FISH.

BANANA FISH has been translated into Chinese, Korean and English.

English version

BANANA FISH English version has been running in PULP magazine since 1997 December.